As part of National Manufacturing Week, the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Awards Gala Dinner was held last night in Melbourne’s Docklands with Minister Martin Pakula opening proceedings. As an awards judge, Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability Dr Gillian Sparkes presented Manufacturer of the Year – Small Business to Columbia Australia, who make quality tooling for Australia's Die Cast & Plastic Injection Moulding industries. Congratulations to Virginia Trioli, the brilliant MC, and all the winners including Dulux Australia for winning Manufacturer of the Year and special mention to Woman Manufacturer of the Year Rochelle Avinu from Leica Biosystems. Rochelle spoke about starting her career as a scientist and her genuine surprise at how transferable many of her skills were to manufacturing. “If I can be a Manufacturing Manager anyone can!” she said.
The Hall of Fame night is always an opportunity to celebrate outstanding contributions to Victorian manufacturing. We saw manufacturing stalwart Geoffrey Bell of A.W Bell, above, presented with the Honour Roll – Service to the Industry Award. Geoff shared inspiring reflections of his persistence, belief and absolute determination to succeed after the car industry. It took A. W Bell eight years to get their first contract in the aeronautical industry. Then they took off again!